Phyllis Hamm, icon of Chamber, Christmas Parade, dies at 76

Phyllis Hamm, longtime membership director of the Ocala/Marion County Chamber of Commerce and the driving force behind the city's annual Christmas Parade, has died at 76.

By Richard AnguianoBusiness editor

Phyllis Hamm, longtime membership director of the Ocala/Marion County Chamber of Commerce and the driving force behind the city's annual Christmas parade, has died at 76.

Hamm, who lived in Citra, died of a heart attack Wednesday night, according to Jaye Baillie, former Chamber president and CEO, who worked alongside Hamm from 2002 to 2006.

Hamm joined the chamber, the forerunner of the Ocala/Marion County Chamber & Economic Partnership, as a bookkeeper in 1969 and retired as membership director in February 2006. During her tenure, membership tripled from 600 to 1,800.

“It has truly been a privilege,” Hamm said in a 2006 Star-Banner interview at her retirement. “The chamber is my passion.”

Jim Hilty Sr., an Ocala City Councilman and a chamber colleague and friend to Hamm for more than 20 years, said she was known for other works in the community. Those included, most notably, her leadership of the Christmas parade, but also her involvement in the Florida Agriculture Center and Horse Park, the Southeastern Youth Fair, the Chamber Ambassador Program and, more recently, in exchanges between Ocala and its sister city of Newbridge, Ireland.

“In her years of retirement, she was still somewhat active,” Hilty said. “It was in the last year or two that her health really started to fail and that prevented her from doing the things she loved to do.”

Baillie said Hamm also was noted for her knowledge of the community.

“She was the go-to,” Baillie said. “Phyllis was our Google before we had Google.”

Baillie recalled the day in 2002 that Dwayne Carlton, then the board president, introduced her as new chamber president and CEO to the staff in the conference room of the old headquarters on East Silver Springs Boulevard, a building whose construction fund Hamm had established.

“Phyllis looked at me as only Phyllis could look at a person and said 'Um, excuse me. You're in my seat,'” Baillie recalled Thursday, giggling at the memory. “I mean, here I am, the new president and CEO. I looked at Dwayne and I looked at Phyllis and I said 'Oh, I didn't know there were reserved seats. Phyllis, would you like your chair?' And then she started laughing.”

Hilty remembered Hamm hosting annual “Christmas in July” gatherings.

“Reason being, we were always very busy with the Christmas parade at Christmastime,” Hilty said. “She'd provide the turkey. It would be just like Christmas. The tree, the stockings, everything was there. We'd have the turkey and the ham and everybody would bring things and it was just a gathering of good friends from all aspects of her life, not just the Christmas parade.”

Hamm was a native of Chicago and moved to Ocala with her late husband, Raymond, in 1968. She was an avid fan of the Chicago Cubs and kept on her desk an autographed picture of 1940s Cubs great Phil Cavarretta, given to her by Jeff Brown, former Star-Banner advertising director, who is Cavarretta's grandson.

“Someday, we will be in the World Series, and we will play the Yankees, and we will beat 'em,” Hamm said in the 2006 interview.

Perhaps fittingly, Hamm died on the same day the Cubs celebrated the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field. Alas, she did not live to see her beloved team make another World Series.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete Thursday morning, Hilty said, adding that Hamm left behind no children and is survived only by a brother in Texas who is in poor health.

“Right now, unfortunately, we're scrambling to try and find out what her wishes were,” he said. “We are just trying to pull together as friends right now to see what we can do.”